


Partners

by moonmoth (greyvvardenfell)



Series: Fictober 2019 [30]
Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Nudity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:15:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23572201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greyvvardenfell/pseuds/moonmoth
Summary: Years after the events of the game, Julian and Reyja return to Vesuvia for a visit to the palace. Specifically, the palace baths.
Relationships: Apprentice/Julian Devorak
Series: Fictober 2019 [30]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1696495
Kudos: 4





	Partners

**Author's Note:**

> For the Fictober prompt: "I might just kiss you."

Early evening sunlight caught the edges of even the tiniest ripples spreading across the heated water, anchored around scattered rose petals and floating candles not yet lit for the night. Not for the first time, Reyja and Julian shared a glance with each other, marveling over their good fortune. Of all the privileges they’d received from Nadia upon their return from the Devil’s realm, open access to the palace’s private baths ranked near the top.

The servant who had insisted upon escorting them up to the bathing wing placed a stack of fluffy white towels on a low bench near the door and backed out of the room with a shy smile, avoiding eye contact and uttering not a single word. Julian watched her go with one expressive eyebrow raised and his thumbs rubbing absentminded circles into Reyja’s shoulders.

“Well. She’s certainly not Pasha, is she?”

“Oh, be nice.” Reyja narrowed her eyes at him goodnaturedly, tipping her head back to catch his gaze. “I actually found it refreshing to come up here and not be overwhelmed with gossip for once.”

A low chuckle bloomed from deep in his throat. He leaned closer and wrapped his arms around her from behind, pushing his nose into the hair above her ear. “That’s your sister-in-law you’re disparaging, my darling,” he murmured, voice warm and soft and aching with love.

She grinned. “Who gossips more than sisters-in-law, Jujubee?”

Julian had no answer for that. Instead, he pressed a tender kiss to Reyja’s cheek and clasped her hands in his, delighting in the feel of the hammered silver ring on her finger. The roughness of the paired raw diamonds, perfect to represent what they had found in each other, was at once still new and yet belonged nowhere else, like the stones had been dug from the earth just to make the love they shared a solid, visible thing. This would be their first visit to the palace’s baths since the wedding; indeed, it was their first visit back to Vesuvia itself in over a year, after moving inland.

“Come on, lovely.” Reyja lifted Julian’s hands to her lips and kissed the peaks of his knuckles before gently breaking out of his embrace. She knelt next to the pool and dipped her fingers below the surface, testing the temperature. “Water’s waiting.”

Undressing in front of each other had long become commonplace after three years together, but both refused to allow it to become dull. Julian as much as ogled her as Reyja dragged her shirt up and off over her head, shaking her hair out afterwards like she always did, before pulling her leggings down. In turn she watched him slide his sleeves from his shoulders with a flourish and shimmy out of his trousers, his legs so long and the fabric so tight he had to sit to get them off completely. When they raced to shed their clothes, he never won.

While Julian examined Nadia’s new bubble bath options, Reyja wandered to the wide stone stairs leading down into the pool. She stepped in carefully, pausing on each one to let the heat loosen her tight calves, then her thighs, then her hips as she sank into the water. When the ripples of her own movement returned to her, splashing against her belly, she turned and looked back over her shoulder to see Julian, bubbles forgotten, gaping at her from the side of the bath.

“What?” she asked, unable to resist teasing him with his mouth hanging open like that. “You act like you’ve never seen me naked before, Jul.”

Her voice seemed to jolt him from a trance and he blinked rapidly, his jaw snapping shut. “I— you— my god, Reyja, you’re just, just…” He swallowed, offering her a bashful grin. “You’re so beautiful, my love. With the sunlight behind you and your, your curves…”

Smiling seductively, she scooped up a palm-full of water and poured it slowly down her side, letting the cascade find its own way along her plush stomach and hip. “Well, you signed up for exclusive access to these curves when you married me, y'know.”

“Oho?” Julian lingered next to the elaborate display of bubble potion bottles and jars of bath salts, waiting eagerly for permission. He was nearly bouncing on the balls of his feet with excitement, desperate to join her, to touch her.

Reyja studied him a moment longer before giving in. “You can come get a closer look, if you’d like.”

As though she’d blown the whistle at the start of a footrace, he shot into the bath before the words finished leaving her mouth, kicking up spray with every step. The water lapping at her belly only reached the middle of his thighs, so she beckoned him towards the inset stone benches at the far end of the pool. He scrambled after her, overtaking her to reach the seats first.

“If, if I sit? W-will you…?”

Without answering, she pushed him back until he hit the bench and sat down heavily, sending a rush of water over the side of the bath. She settled onto his lap, facing him, steadying herself with her hands on his broad shoulders. The steam rolling off the water kept her warm, along with the blushing heat radiating from his skin. “This what you wanted?” she crooned, pressing herself against him.

Julian’s eyelids fluttered shut as he pulled her even closer, inhaling her scent and loving the shift and squish of her body under his hands. “You know me so well, darling. Better than anyone. Better than I know myself, even. I’m sure of it.”

“You give yourself too little credit, Juley,” said Reyja, petting his hair. “You’re strong and brave and capable, and you’re doing better all the time. Even the rough days aren’t nearly as rough as they used to be.”

“Because of you.” He squeezed tighter. “I would never have come so far without you.”

“I helped,” she insisted. “You did the work. Just like you help me do my work. We’re a team. Partners.”

The bath chamber was quiet for several moments, only the swirl of water around them disturbing the silence until Julian spoke again. “Partners,” he agreed softly. He dipped his head to kiss along her collarbone and the crook of her neck.

“I love you so much, Julian. I loved you before I met you and I love you now and I’ll love you tomorrow, too.”

He met her eyes then, peering at her from behind his thick auburn bangs. The final words of their wedding vow never failed to make his stomach swoop. “I loved you before I met you and I love you now and I’ll love you tomorrow, too, my darling. You are my partner and my soulmate. You are my best friend, my lover, my, ah, my goddess. You’re everything I thought I’d never find, or ever deserved.” Julian rested his forehead against hers, matching her breathing. “I’d never known love like this, Reyja, before I knew you. But I hope I never know anything else.”

“If it’s up to me, or to you, neither of us will ever have to.”

They sat together, molded into each other, as the sun dropped behind the buildings lining the distant horizon. The candles floating around them flared to life on their own, illuminating the chamber with soft yellow flickers. Eventually, Reyja stirred and stretched, then smiled groggily. “Were you planning on actually bathing? I could fall asleep against you if we stay like this.”

Julian brushed his fingers across her forehead. “I might just kiss you, my dear. Or, if you’d, erm, if you’d let me, I could wash your hair?”

“Do you want to?”

Even in the unsteady light, she could see the anticipation in his eyes at the prospect. He bit his lip before replying, his voice low and husky. “I would beg for the honor.”

Reyja caught his hand where it lingered close to her face and kissed his palm. “You don’t have to do that, Jul. Not tonight. If you’d like to, of course you can wash my hair. That’d be nice.”

“I wouldn’t ‘like to,’ darling, no.” Julian moved his hands to her jawline, thumbs stroking her cheeks before drawing her into a deep, tongue-heavy kiss. “I’d love it.”


End file.
